Heist Suspect Seized In California

Man Supervised Naperville Teenagers In Bank

SAN DIEGO — The young man in jeans sat at the bar with a $3.75 beer in front of him and talked about being from Chicago. He was in California, he said, to meet his sister.

After chatting with bartender Melissa Kancianich, he said he had to go outside to make a telephone call. And as he headed for the door of Johnny B's Burgers & Brews, undercover FBI agents moved in, nabbing bank robbery suspect Terry Twist.

On Thursday morning, Twist appeared before a federal magistrate in San Diego to face charges of robbing the Naperville bank where he worked as a supervisor, allegedly enlisting a group of teenagers to help him.

Twist, who wore a white jumpsuit and a solemn expression, was asked by U.S. Magistrate Judge Leo Papas if he were employed.

"Um . . . I don't think so," said Twist, 25.

Authorities say Twist has been missing since Feb. 15, the date he allegedly led the teenagers in taking $90,000 from his TCF Bank branch during a staged holdup.

Officials at the U.S. attorney's office in San Diego said FBI investigators in Chicago were tipped off to Twist's location by a family member, and he was taken into custody Wednesday night.

During Thursday's court appearance, Twist hung his head and rubbed his face as the charges against him were read. Papas ordered him to appear in court again Tuesday, when bond is scheduled to be set.

Federal officials in Chicago said they will seek to extradite Twist, whose last address was in the 1200 block of Teasel Lane in Aurora. If convicted, he faces up to 20 years in prison and fines of up to $250,000, officials said.

FBI officials said Twist was caught about 8 p.m. PST at Johnny B's Burgers & Brews on 4th Street in La Mesa, an eastern suburb of San Diego.

Kancianich, the night bartender, said she watched the arrest.

Twist, seated at the bar's red Formica counter, bought a beer from Kancianich, she said, told her he was from Chicago and said he was meeting his sister. FBI officials would not comment on whether Twist's sister had played a role in locating him.

"He was very nice, very cordial," said Kancianich, who said Twist bought his beer with a $20 bill. "He looked like a student."

When Twist left to make a call at an outside pay telephone, she said, undercover agents who apparently had been posing as bar patrons moved in.

"It's accurate to say that he knew what was going on right away," said Jan Caldwell, an FBI agent in San Diego who would not comment on the specifics of the arrest. "He was taken into custody without incident."

A search of Twist's hotel room at a nearby Travelodge followed, the FBI said, and $20,000 was recovered.

A clerk at the Travelodge said Twist checked in Tuesday under the name "Michael Mitchell" and had given his state of origin as Illinois.

Twist was not a particularly notable guest, the clerk said, and his room had been cleared out by Thursday. Investigators declined to estimate how long Twist had been in the San Diego area.

Twist, police said, had been on the run for more than a week and was declared a fugitive from justice Tuesday. Naperville police and Chicago FBI agents had believed he was headed for Mexico,

Authorities alleged he was the ringleader of a crime that has generated shock, dismay and puzzlement in the well-to-do subdivisions of Naperville, where many of the teenage suspects live.

Police said Twist recruited the teenagers, many of whom attend Naperville's Neuqua Valley High School, to help him pull off the theft.

Representatives of the Will County state's attorney's office said Thursday that theft charges remain pending against at least seven teenagers who they believe participated in the bank heist or held money for others.

Investigators said many of the youths used some of the stolen cash to go on shopping sprees, buying television sets, video games and jewelry at the Fox Valley Mall.

Investigators alleged that Twist and a 16-year-old Naperville boy working as a teller took $50,000 from the vault of the TCF Bank inside a supermarket at 2855 95th St.

Police said Twist then decided to stage a holdup to cover up the theft and clean out the bank's remaining cash. Police said he recruited a 17-year-old Naperville girl who also was working as a teller.

Just after 8 p.m., she went outside the store on a break and was approached by a 17-year-old Aurora boy posing as a robber. The two went inside, and the rest of the vault's cash was piled into a bag, police said.

The 17-year-old teller approached by the fake robber will face no charges because she has cooperated with investigators, police said.

TCF bank officials said Twist was hired about a year ago, but began work a few weeks before his final fingerprint check was completed.

David Creel, a TCF vice president, said that report showed that Twist had been arrested but never convicted, so he was allowed to keep his job.

The TCF branch does not have an armed guard, Creel said, because the area is not considered high-risk.

"That branch is two blocks down the street from a high school that cost $62 million to build," Creel said, referring to Neuqua Valley.

Creel said Twist apparently removed a surveillance tape from a security camera at the branch. But a backup camera captured the theft.

"It's one that most people don't even know is there," Creel said of the second camera. "And if (Twist) did know, he couldn't have done anything about it."

Creel said there is not likely to be any major review of bank security policies in the wake of the Naperville incident. Nor will the bank review its practice of hiring teenagers, he said.